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Medina Sun: Businesses, township team to boost bicycle safety

May 3, 2012

A bike rodeo for kids took place at the Home Depot store in Medina on April 29, 2012, and Don Barnett, the Service Manager from the Century Cycles store in Medina was there to do bike safety inspections. The event was covered in this article from the Medina Sun; additional pictures can be found in the online version.

By Tara Quinn

tquinn@sunnews.com

Medina Township teamed up with Home Depot and Century Cycles to host the Bike Rodeo April 29 in the Home Depot parking lot.

"Every year we try to do a bike safety day for the community," Sgt. Todd Zieja said. "It brings attention to traffic safety laws. We make sure they have a helmet that fits and they know traffic direction signals.

"Century Cycles has joined us this year to provide free safety inspections, which is awesome. They're adjusting adjusting brakes and making sure the bike is safe for the children to ride."

The kids also tested their maneuverability skills on an obstacle course complete with stop and yield signs. They received free hot dogs and popcorn and had the chance to win prizes in a raffle.

"We needed to do more community events, more spring events and more stuff with kids," said Kevin Glawe, operations manager at Home Depot. "Safety awareness is important."

The police department also hosts a Bike to Biker program in the summer through its community partnerships program, but Zieja said this event attracts a different audience.

"At Bike to Biker we weren't attracting the younger crowd," he said. "Motorcycle awareness is important, but children on bicycles have to be vigilant and watch what's going on. They have to pay attention to what they're doing and what other people are doing."

Don Barnett, service manager at Century Cycles, agreed.

"We're all about bike safety and promoting bicycling. This is great for kids."

"I enjoy working with children," Zieja said. "It's a great impression; it shows them the officer is just a normal person. We're here to help them and guide them in the right direction."